Journal box lid



July 27, 1954 J, HORN ET AL JOURNAL BOX LID 3 Shegts-Sheet 1 Filed Nov. 15, 1950 INVENTOR.

J. HORN HARRY FRED A. FREDERICK H. J. HORN ET AL JOURNAL BOX LID July 27, 1954 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Nov. 15, 1950 m m m m HARRY J. HORN FRED A. FREDERlCK y 1954 H. J. HORN ET AL ,8

JOURNAL BOX LID Filed Nov. 15, 1950 3 Sheets-Sheet 5 INVE R. HARRY J. HO

FRED A. FREDERICK Patented July 27, 1954 v UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE.

JOURNAL BOX LID Application November 15, 1950, Serial No. 195,851

4 Claims.

This invention relates to a journal box lid.

It is an object of this invention to produce a lid for the journal box of a railway car which is more economical to produce and assemble than the journal box lids heretofore known.

The invention is particularly concerned with a simple and novel mounting for the torsion spring which serves to maintain the journal box lid in either open or closed position. This invention contemplates a mounting for the torsion spring which is simple and yet facilitates the assembly of the spring within the hood and the disassembly of the spring from the hood in case of repair.

It is also an object of this invention to produce a journal box lid wherein the torsion spring is provided with a simple but efiicacious arrangement or mechanism for adjusting the spring with respect to the journal box cam so as to maintain the spring in the right amount of compression.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a front elevation of the journal box lid.

Fig. 2 is a section along the line 2-2 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 3 is a detail sectional view of the arrangement for fastening the hood to the cover.

Fig. 4 is a partial elevation of the hood.

Fig. 5 is an elevation along the line 5-5 of Fig. 4.

Fig. 6 is a section along the line 6-6 of Fig. 4.

Fig. '7 is an isometric view of the rivet for securing the hood and lid together.

Fig. 8 is an isometric view of the hood.

Fig. 9 is a section through the hood similar to Fig. 6 but showing the torsion spring and shim in place.

Fig. 10 is a view looking into the hood with the spring and shim in place.

Fig. 11 is an isometric view of the shim.

Referring more particularly to the drawings, the hood I is secured to the cover 2 by means of a rivet 3, Fig. 7. The rivet 3 (Fig. '7) is passed through spring washer 4, hood I and pressed through an opening in cover 2 with a press fit. Washer 5 is now passed over, and preferably press fitted on, the rivet and the rivet is headed by shearing down an annular ring 6 which flows over the washer 5 and a second riveting or heading operation flows the metal down to the structure shown in the drawings. The headed metal 6 is a combination of metal that is sheared and some that is not sheared.

Hood I is provided with stamped pin bearing ears I which are provided with openings 8 through which the hinge pin 9 for pivotally mounting the lid assembly on the journal box passes. The conventional cam III on the journal box is shown in the dotted lines, Fig. 2.

The torsion spring II is provided with two coils I2 and I3 connected by a U-shaped portion I 3 upon which the roller I5 is journalled. Roller I5 is forced against cam III by the torsion spring II. Coil spring II is provided with a pair of legs I6. Coils I2 and I3 nest in a pocket I I provided by the side and top walls of the hood I. Coils I2 and I3 are held in this pocket by ears I8 which are sheared inwardly from the side walls 29 of the hood. Each of the ears I8 is pro vided with a curved or arcuate surface I9 which surfaces contact the insides of the coils I2 and I3 and hold the spring II in place. Coils I2 and 53 are held between the arcuate surfaces I9 of ears I8 and an inside curved wall 2'! of pocket I7.

To assemble spring II on ears I8, coils I2 and I3 are pressed toward each other which is permitted by the U spring portion I4. Coils I2 and I3 are then aligned with ears I8 and the axial compression on coils I2 and I3'released, and the outward flexing of U spring portion I4 yieldably forces and thereafter holds coils l2 and I3 over ears I8. Hence, the tension of the spring portion I4 in cooperation with ears I8 and pocket Il securely holds spring II within the hood I. Spring I I can be readily removed from the hood for service by drawing coils I2 and I3 axially toward each other against the tension of U spring portion I4 to disengage ears I 8. Spring II can also be removed by prying either one of the coils I2 or I3 axially by means of a tool, such as a screw-driver, to disengage it from its respective ear I8 whereupon the spring can be readily removed from the hood I.

During the operation of a journal box lid the cam I0 and the hole 8 for the pin 5 are subject to wear. Very often this wear results in the roller I5 of the journal box lid not being forced outwardly, that is, toward the top of hood I a sufficient distance to compress the spring II to the desired amount and if this be the case, the lid 2 will not be held closed with the proper pressure.

To take care of this condition a shim 20 in the form of a flat strip of metal with ears 2I bent outwardly from the ends thereof, is placed behind the two legs I6 of the spring. The ends 22 of the shim are mounted between the spring ends I6 and the top 23 of the hood. In Fig. 2 no shim is provided for the spring I I. By comparing Figs. 2 and 9, it will be seen that shim 20 moves the 3 ends iii of the spring toward the cam I or openings 8 and, of course, moves roller 15 a commensurate amount. This increases or adjusts the tension of spring H and the contact pressure between roller [5 and cam 10.

Shim 20 is installed by oscillating the coils of the spring a small amount and inserting the shim under the ends 16 of the spring and then bringing the spring up into the position shown in Fig. 9. The friction between coils l2 and i3, curved surfaces I9 on ears l8, and the inside face of pocket ll holds the spring and shim in position. The spring ends l6 bear against the underside of shim ends 22 to hold the shim in position against the inside face of thehousing I and spring ends l6 also apply tension or compressive force against the ends 2| of the shim. With this arrangement it is evident that the ears l8 co-act with coils l2 and I3 and pocket ll to hold the spring ends l6 upwardly against the inside face of housing I when the shim 20 is not in use, and when theshim is in use, the spring ends l6 hold the shim 20 upwardly against the inside face of the housing I and this arrangement keeps the spring H in its proper position.

Shim 20 can always be removed by swinging the spring about its supporting ears 18 so that spring ends [6 move toward the pin openings 9 and release shim 20 from Within the housing I.

We claim:

1. In a journal box lid assembly, a hood having a pocket formed therein, a torsion spring housed within said pocket, said torsion spring comprising two axially, aligned coils connected at their adjacent ends by. an intermediate U-shaped spring portion having a bight laterally offset from said coils, ears projecting inwardly, from the side Walls of said pocket into the outer ends of said coils for holding the spring in the pocket, said coils being movable axially towards each other against the tension of said U-shaped spring portion to disengage said outer ends of said coils from said ears, said torsion-spring being provided with spring ends which extendalong the inner face of the pocket in substantial parallelism with the U spring portion, and a shim member positioned within the pocket adjacent one end and contacting the said spring ends to space them from the top wall of the pocket.

2. The combination claimed in claim 1 wherein the shim comprises a flat strip of metal provided with projecting ends and outwardly bent ears which contact the end wall of said pocket to space the ends of the shim therefrom where by the ends of the coil spring can engage beneath the projecting ends of the shim.

3. In a journal box lid assembly, a hood having a pocket formed therein, a torsion spring housed within said pocket, said torsion spring comprising two axially spaced coils connected by an intermediate U-shaped spring portion having a bight portion laterally offset from said coils, means engaging said coil for holding the spring in said pocket, said spring being provided with a pair of spring ends which extend along the inner face of the top wall of the pocket and a shim member positioned within the pocket adjacent one end and contacting the said spring ends to space them from the top wall of the pocket.

4. The combination claimed in claim 3 wherein the shim comprises a flat strip of metal provided with projecting ends and. outwardly bent ears which contact the end wall of the pocket to space the projected ends of the shim therefrom whereby the torsion spring, can engage beneath the projecting ends of the shim.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 952,481 Symington Mar. 22, 1910 1,717,551 Drenning June 18, 1929 1,914,475 Barrows June 20, 1933 2,029,521 Couch Feb. 4, 1936 2,459,905 Weber Jan. 25, 1949 2,523,375 Jones Sept. 26, 1950 

